Today.

I was going to write an update on yesterday's post because I read some interesting stuff on other blogs on the fundraiser hop that I wanted to share. But [surprise!] it got a bit wordy, so here's another post. I feel such a busy beaver.

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I was never a GirlGuide in my schooldays, though I badly wanted to be one. I had so many good reasons for wanting to be one too. Their uniform was to die for, all the cool girls seemed to be in that group and, last but not least, they seemed to have a lot of extra-curricular activities with the BOYScouts. I can't remember why, but I ended up being a daggy RedCross girl instead.

40 years up the road and over the hill, I can finally appreciate that I learnt a lot of useful stuff as a RedCross girl, even if the uniform was tragically unattractive.

As an adult, I don't seem to have learnt anything quite as useful. I'm ashamed to admit, I have very little preparedness or knowledge about what to do in an emergency.

A blackout can freak me out as I grope around in the darkness [of my house and memory] to find some candles. My firstaid kit is so old, some of the more bio-degradable stuff has probably degraded. I'd check it out, but I don't seem to remember where I've safely stored it. I DO know where the little freebie Doggie First AidKit is though. [1 brownie point for me, methinks.]

So, imagine how pleased I was to find a link to Some Emergency Plans for The Other Half, myself, Rufus and Georgia on this GrouchyPuppy post. The link  http://72hours.org/ has spiffy graphics, and the information is helpfully categorised by catastrophe.

Do click on it. It's interesting reading, even if you live in Sydney where nothing much seems to happen in the way of catastrophes. [And no, no, NO. Not being able to find the new season J Choos doesn't count.]

While the information is useful regardless of where you are, please note that the emergency contacts on that link are for the San Francisco area. So don't be calling them if you're blowing about in a cyclone in Townsville. In fact, if you're reading this in Moldova [I mention Moldova because I just noticed my 1st ever hit from that country on my statcounter], could now be a good time to familiarise yourself with your local emergency procedures and numbers?

Here's the site we Sydneysiders want -
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/getreadysydney/

And because this is, after all, a DOGblog,
http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-preparations-should-I-make-for-my-pets-in-case-of-an-emergency_455.html

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I just had a look at the little ChipIn button on yesterday's post. It's the 1st time I've ever done something like that and I still feel a little anxious about it. I notice that WorldVets has removed the $50,000 figure that they were aiming to collect, and donations are now limited only by date - April 11th. That could be because the figure collected has gone from just over $3,000 [that was the amount I noticed when I added the ChipIn button to the post yesterday], to over $30,000 as I type this. Obviously, these buttons work and a lot of good people out there are chipping in!

That leads me to share another interesting post that I read yesterday on the fundraiser hop, from the prolific and ever sensible Ms Karen F. Please note the title.
http://www.doggiestylish.com/store/2011/03/do-not-donate-money-to-japan/

Yeap, that's what it says. Maybe you'd better read it before you take out your credit card.

And finally, for those of you who might have had some technical problems donating to WorldVets yesterday, and were completely pissed off by it, this is why -

**In the evening of March 16th our server experienced a very high volume of activity which caused an error while processing donations. We apologize for this inconvenience and encourage you to try again as the problem has been resolved**

That's good, no?

You can also, of course, still donate HERE at their ChipIn button on yesterday's post.

Thank you and have a great weekend :) xox



Update Saturday, 19th March  I just read something else I'd like to share. If WorldVets is not your thing, there are other ways to help the animals in Japan.

Click HERE for the list.

They all do good. It's nice to have a choice.